Family Picture
by SnowFalls3
Summary: A few chapters about how the picture of Emma and Mary Margaret was taken. I've seen the photo frequently on the show (Henry staring at it) and I want to know its backstory, so I guess my imagination ran wild again and I made up my own version of it! :)
1. Back Home

_**Have you ever wondered how that famous picture of Emma and Mary Margaret was taken? If you read this story, you'll read my version of it ;)**_

_**The plot takes place after Mary Margaret got home from jail, after episode 18. I plan it to be three chapters at most, and hope that you'll like it!**_

* * *

Emma entered the small apartment in slow motion, she dropped her bag on the table, went straight to the couch and collapsed onto it. She was dead tired. Mary Margaret sat in silence on the other corner of the couch and as the blonde glanced at her she noticed that she had fallen asleep while reading something. A book. Emma snuck closer and read the title.

_Anna Karenina. Ugh, that's _light reading_ for her…?_

While she wanted to get up and into bed as soon as possible, she heard the other woman squirm and turned to her instead. "Good morning, sleeping beauty. I thought I was tired, but yikes." She smiled at her with a funny expression. "Sorry to break the news, but you look terrible."

Mary Margaret rubbed her eyes and finally seemed to be fully woken up. "Damn, is it already 11 o'clock? I'm so sorry, Emma. I know I promised I would make dinner, but…" She yawned. "I didn't have a restful night during my time in jail. Now, I think I'm trying to make up for the lost time…" The brunette tried to suppress the urge to yawn again.

Emma gave her a reassuring look. "It's okay. I just got home a minute ago, anyway." She sighed. "I didn't know being a sheriff involved _so much_ paperwork. Your case, for instance. I swear I've signed a hundred papers in the last two da-" Emma cut off the end of her sentence and glanced at her friend with worry.

Mary Margaret smiled. "Oh, c'mon! I'm fine! You don't have to avoid the subject because of me! What happened, happened." She accentuated her words with a nod. "I'm home now. I'm fine. Everything's _fine_."

Emma smiled palely and added a quiet comment. "It depends on your definition of _being fine_…"

Her friend didn't hear this, but gazed in front of her, like something was on her mind. "It's strange, though." She said after a longer pause. "I've been home all day, mostly sleeping but… I know it's my first day since I got acquitted, but I thought I had missed this place more. I mean, I had. But it's like… it didn't feel like home, you know?" Mary Margaret looked at Emma pensively.

The blonde waited for more, but silence fell on the room, so she asked. "Why the past tense?"

Mary Margaret gave her a puzzled look, so she made her meaning perfectly plain. "You said you _didn't_ feel home. You do now?"

But she shook her head. "I don't know… I suppose so, yes. It's hard to tell."

Emma stroked her friend's arm. "It just takes time, that's all. One or two weeks and you won't even remember this whole madness happened."

Her warm expression made Mary Margaret smile, though she wasn't sure her friend was right. But she said, "Probably, yeah."

Emma got up with a sigh. "Anyway! My well-deserved rest awaits me! I'm going to my comfortable, warm bed so long as I can. It's been a long day and I have a feeling tomorrow will be just as bad… or worse…" She let out a sound of frustration and waved at Mary Margaret. " 'Night. Sleep well."

"You too. And Emma?"

The blonde turned back with a questioning look. The brunette smiled wearily. "It's good to be back _home_."

Emma mirrored her smile. "It's good to have you back here."

She went upstairs and Mary Margaret realized that now, like this, this place really _did_ feel like home.


	2. Something Personal

Emma stood in front of the sheriff's station and looked at her watch.

_She said she'd be here in ten minutes. It's already been fifteen, where the hell is she?_

She had gotten an emergency call from Mary Margaret, who wanted to meet her right away. They had agreed to meet in front of Emma's workplace in ten. She had said it was something very important. _But if it was, why is she late?_

But the brunette appeared around the corner in the next moment and rushed towards the impatient blonde. Emma couldn't help but smile a little in thought. She always found it amusing how Mary Margaret ran. It was both awkward and funny, yet she couldn't imagine the brunette doing it any differently.

"Finally! Tick – tock! I'm working here, Mary Margaret. I can't just stand in front of the office and do nothing! If the Mayor caught me, I'd have been fired in the blink of an eye." She dropped this stream of complaints on her friend, then took a deep breath. "What is it? What was so important?"

Mary Margaret on the other hand was smiling ear to ear and raised her hands. "_This_ is why I was late." She showed Emma a small camera.

Emma waited, she thought maybe she had missed the point. "…and?"

"I know what I missed!" She smiled constantly, gesturing with her hands, she was clearly happy about something. "Do you remember, the other night we talked about how the house didn't feel like home for me? Well. Today I've been cleaning a little…"

"Again?" Emma sighed. "Geez, the house is all neat and tidy! If you clean it again – for the tenth time this week – I'll feel like I'm in a laboratory…"

Mary Margaret let the complaint pass through her ears unheard. "I noticed that in the whole apartment I only have one personal photo - with my class. Nothing more. I don't have any images with my friends or family… That's why I felt lonely." Her voice was filled with sadness, yet the smile remained on her face. "And…" She showed Emma the camera again. "… guess what I thought."

"No." Emma took a step back. "Oh, no. You tricked me into this! I'm not taking pictures! I hate taking pictures! No way!"

"Emma!" Her pleading voice sprung a small crack in Emma's wall of stubbornness. The brunette sighed desperately. "Look, I know that you haven't been here long, but you live here, you work here, your family is here..." To her questioning look Mary Margaret explained. "... Henry. Your home is here. It's not like you'll move to another town tomorrow... is it?" She added with sudden concern in her voice.

"No, it's not." The blonde admitted.

"Then, some roots won't be that bad, right?"

"It's not that..." Emma tried really hard not to think about the only other person who had said the exact same thing to her so long ago. "It's just not my thing."

Mary Margaret raised her eyebrows with a knowing look. "I think I've heard that before. You're not really the roommate type, remember?"

Emma had to let out a short laugh. _She still remembers that conversation?_

"Oh, c'mon!" Mary Margaret pleaded. "It's no big deal! Look. We take it, we see if it's worth keeping and if it is, we find a nice, hidden nook in the apartment where you'll never have to see it again. Deal?"

"Oh, I hate you so much..." Emma gave up with a sigh. "Let's get on with it quickly, shall we?"

Mary Margaret hopped next to her with a wide grin on her face and held the camera in front of her. Emma tried her best to smile as naturally as she could.

A quick flash of light and it was done.

"You see? It wasn't that bad, was it?" It looked like nothing could wipe off the brunette's satisfied sneer. "Gotta go! I have to get this printed before the shop closes! See you at home!"

Emma raised her hands wearily. She spoke to the brunette but she was already too far away to hear her words. "I thoughe we'd check if it's good at all!"

_Oh, this woman..._

But as she jogged along back to her office, she couldn't help but smile openly and think about the possibility of finding such a nice, good-hearted flatmate. With her luck, it was saying something. And she felt proud as well. Content that even after all the evidence pointed at her, when everything showed that her friend was guilty; there wasn't a seed of doubt in her. She knew the brunette was innocent and nothing changed that.

_She was right. My family really _is_ here. _

In thought she included Mary Margaret as well.

* * *

After a very long and stressful day, Emma stepped into the small apartment with the weird feeling of waiting for a sneak attack. She went straight to the kitchen table, dropped her bag and keys onto it and looked around. She didn't see her friend, but her eyes got caught on a small object in Mary Margaret's bedroom. Emma didn't know why she wanted to take a closer look, but she went closer and held the picture in her hands.

It wasn't such a big deal, no. But this picture started to melt her heart.

She had in fact taken a few pictures during her time in the foster system. Awkward family dinners at Christmas, Thanksgiving, ect... None of those pictures were real, none of them showed what a family picture was supposed to symbolize. Emma didn't keep those images. They were meaningless, soulless caricatures of the fact that she could never have a real family. She felt like those portraits were mocking her, telling her that she never would.

Now, gazing at this simple photo, she felt that hole mending. The hole her parents had left, the people she had never gotten to meet, had never gotten to know.

_But who cares? I don't need them. Family isn't defined by blood, not for me anyway. _

_For me, it's the people in my life who want me in theirs. Those who accept me for who I am, believe in me. The ones who would do anything to see me smile, and would stand in the way to protect me from getting hurt. And the other way around - those for whom I care the most._

_Family is my choice. And I've chosen well._

She smiled when she noticed that her trusty yellow bug appeared in the photo as well. Her _old_ home.

Emma didn't know how long she stared at the image, but when she heard a quiet cough behind her, she jumped and felt like she had been dragged out of a whole different world.

She saw Mary Margaret standing at the door, her arms folded, but her smiley expression warmed her heart. "I told you it wasn't a bad idea."

Emma glanced back at the image. "No, you were right."

The brunette came closer to her friend and took a look at the picture as well. "You know, you really should smile more. I have proof now that it suits you." She winked at Emma who gave her a thankful smile.

"That's what I'm talking about!" Mary Margaret wrapped her right hand around Emma's right shoulder, half-hugging her and looked at the image again.

Unbeknownst to Mary Margaret, but the blonde was taken aback by this gesture. She wanted to return it, she really did. She wanted this moment to be one of the firsts with her new family. To start fresh. To let her walls down, after all this time.

But she couldn't. She may have destroyed the evidence, but her memories remained. Her past was still there, and it wouldn't let her take the next step. Not yet.

Emma broke their hug and walked out to the kitchen. She could hear the other woman putting the frame down and following her, but she didn't turn around.

"Is there something wrong?" Mary Margaret's concern was evident in her voice. "Are you mad at me for some reason?"

"No, of course I'm not!" She spun around to face her friend.

Mary Margaret noticed the gathering tears in her eyes. With a heartfelt smile she put her hand on Emma's arm. She clearly didn't want to invade her personal space again. "It's okay. I know how you feel. But we are not alone anymore." The brunette waited for Emma to look up. She was most definitely on the edge of crying. When Emma did hold her head up, her eyes met the other woman's. She couldn't help but think that in them she saw something she'd seen a lot of times, but never looking at her. Something so... _motherly._ "Hey. We've got each other. We're like family. Remember?"

Emma only nodded briefly and was grateful that she could keep her emotions at bay. She took a deep breath and swallowed her tears.

"Family." She nodded.

Mary Margaret's warm smile assured her that they had indeed became one.

Small and damaged, yes. Nevertheless the best family Emma could ever hope she'd have.

* * *

_**One more chapter ahead, everyone! I hope you enjoy this little something. I miss the old Emma-Mary Maragret friendship on the show so much, even though I can't have enough of their mother-duaghter bond. **_

_**A huge thanks goes to oldmcpiper (as usual ;)) for betaing me! I know it's a huge work, but I'm very grateful, because I know I couldn't have found anyone better!:)**_


	3. Like They Always Would

_**Before you'd get confused I jumped a little in time - this chapter happens after Emma and Snow got home from the Enchanted Forest. (Hopefully we'll see their second reunion in today's ep.) So basically this takes place after ep 9, even if we haven't seen it yet ;)**_

_**I hope you'll enjoy this last chapter :)**_

* * *

Snow entered the small apartment and went straight to her bedroom. She knew exactly what she was looking for, but when she looked at the shelf it was standing on last time she had seen it, she froze. It was gone. Snow was just about to search through the whole room when she heard a cough behind her. Emma came in, smiling and holding the object Snow was looking for in her hand.

"I believe this is what you wanted to find in here." She handed over the picture. "David put it on the kitchen table, so Henry could look at it all the time. You stormed in here so quickly, you probably didn't even notice it." Emma winked at the brunette.

"I just… I…" Snow wasn't sure what to say, but Emma gave her a reassuring look.

"I get it." She glanced at the picture too. "Do you remember when we took this?"

Snow nodded. "How could I forget?"

Emma sighed and a sad smile appeared on her face. "Then you also remember the part when you said you didn't feel home here without _something personal_ after you got back? Well… I didn't say it back then because it was a bit weird feeling like that, but… I felt the same way when you were in jail." She talked to the picture, not daring to look her mother in the eyes. Still, after all this time and all those things they'd been through together, Emma felt shy and uncomfortable talking directly about her feelings with Snow. She guessed it was because she wasn't used to someone like her. Someone who actually cared _so much_ about her.

Emma cleared her throat. "When I got home after a long day, seeing you behind bars, dealing with Regina… This place…" She looked around. "… it just didn't feel like home… not without you."

Emma felt a gentle hand touching her chin and carefully forcing her to look up. She met Snow's eyes. Her mother was most definitely on the edge of crying, but she held herself together. Emma was grateful for that. The brunette's voice was full of love. "From now on we won't need this." Snow lifted the picture, still not taking her eyes off the blonde. "We will stay together, no matter what. I won't leave you, ever again, I promise."

Emma nodded and felt like if her mother was to say anything else she'd burst into tears herself. And she really _really_ wanted to avoid that. Fortunately, Snow lightened the mood. "But! We're still keeping the picture! I had to make a lot of effort to take it!" She winked at Emma and they both laughed. Emma felt relieved, yet there was another thing she wanted to discuss.

"There's also… well, a kinda complicated thing." Snow gave her a puzzled look and waited for further explanation. Emma took a deep breath. "Okay, here's the thing. Are you Mary Margaret?" Snow nodded, still not sure what Emma was aiming at. "But you're Snow as well." The brunette felt the question mark at the end of the sentence, so she nodded again. "I'm sorry, but then I don't really know where that puts us. I mean…"

Emma felt the need to express something she didn't quite understand, which simply made her mumble. "During this crazy adventure we had in that other world, you acted like my mother… But hey! I get it! I do, really, but… It was like… Mary Margaret had disappeared… completlely." She wasn't certain she made her point, but the brunette seemed to understand what she was aiming at.

"It's hard to say. I still have both parts, though. Snow and Mary Margaret." She explained seeing Emma's wrinkled face. "But it's more like… The Mary Margaret part of me stayed where it was during those 28 years. It's a still, constant kind of personality, you know? Snow is… more complicated. She's impulsive and it's more like waves of emotions. That's why I've been so motherly lately…" She blushed a little and gave Emma a pale smile. "I wanted to make up for the lost time so quickly, I guess I suppressed my best-friend-part, so the mother-me could fully be in charge." Snow looked at her with a confused look. "I don't know whether I'm making sense or not. But she's still in here, if that's what you wanted to ask. Mary Margaret is still part of me." She gave her a reassuring look.

Emma said a quiet _thank you_ and without actually thinking about what she was doing, she gave her mother a tight hug. Emma knew Snow had already given up a lot of things for her, but was still not used to that. Having her best friend and her mother in one person was more than she could've ever wished for, having someone who'd do anything and everything to protect and take care of her. And she understood with surprise that if she could, she'd do the same, or even more for her mother as well. Just being in her presence, she somehow felt happiness and energy flowing in her veins and the thought that her mother wouldn't go anywhere - neither of her parents would -, that they'd stay with her made Emma feel a kind of love she'd never felt before. She felt complete.

They had truly became the family Emma always hoped she'd have and knew she'd never have the chance to have. But somehow, someway… She had found her family.

_No. They found me._

_Like they always would._

* * *

_**So, as I've said, this is the last part of the story. Many-many thanks for those who kept reading it, and just know that you guys always made my day with your reviews!:) Thank you so much!**_

_**oldmcpiper deserves a huge thank you as always, being the best beta ever! :)**_


End file.
